Monday, April 13, 2015

Neo Tokyo (1987)


Title: Neo Tokyo (1987)

Directors: Rintaro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Katsuhiro Otomo

I’ve been doing some catching up with old anime movies I haven’t seen, because let’s face it, there’s so much cool stuff out there to see that sometimes movies just slip through the cracks. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, boom, there’s universes within universes to explore. Case in point: Japanese animation. As I mentioned on my review for Robot Carnival (1987), Japanese animators love to do anthology films because it gives them a chance to expose their talent to the world. I’ve come to really enjoy a lot of these Japanese animation anthologies…here’s another one I think you guys will dig. It’s called Neo Tokyo (1987) and it includes the work of some truly awesome animators! Let’s see, first we have Rintaro, the director behind The Dagger of Kamui (1985), Metropolis (2001) and X (1996). He directed the segment entitled ‘Labyrinth, Labyrinthos’. Yoshiaki Kawajiri the director behind Ninja Scroll (1993), Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000), Highlander: The Search for Vengeance (2007) and The Animatrix (2003) directed the short entitled ‘The Running Man’. And finally we have anime legend Katsuhiro Otomo, the mastermind behind Akira (1988), Steamboy (2004) and one of the shorts on Robot Carnival (1987). He directed the short entitled ‘Construction Cancellation Order’. So we have three masters of Japanese Animation working on this anthology, how did it turn out?


Wowzers is all I can say about this one. I mean, considering this was released the same year as Robot Carnival, the animation on Neo Tokyo is far superior in my book. I don’t know what it is; it just looks better, more modern somehow. Robot Carnival, though released on the same year, had an old school feel to it, even though it was about robots. I guess it just shows what a unique touch a director can give to their films. Without that vision, that idea, that feeling that a director wants to convey, a movie just isn’t the same. If you have an uninspired director behind the camera, then the film will be equally uninspiring. Which was not the case with Neo Tokyo, it’s quite evident from the first frames that we have a skilled and talented group of directors gathered for this anthology, each with their unique and voice.


First up we have the short entitled ‘The Running Man’ which is just an amazing short. It grabbed me from the first images and didn’t let me go. The control over sight and sound is so superior here…I mean, the visuals go so well with the sound, they create an otherworldly landscape of nightmares, and futuristic speed racing. Imagine mixing the world of Blade Runner (1982), with its neon lights and dark city landscapes and mix it with the podracing scenes from The Phantom Menace (1999) and you’ll get an idea of what to expect. Now mix in some ghosts…and you have your first ghost filled speed racing movie, with mind meld included in there for good measure. First off, stylistically speaking, this short is mind blowingly cool. The visuals will capture you, I mean, these race cars are so freaking cool looking! I want to drive one of these things! Second, it’s so much like Blade Runner, right down to having a detective investigating the whole thing. And a short film that appears to exist within Blade Runner is cool for me any day of the week. And third, it’s bat shit insane. I mean, what the hell? I had to watch this one a couple of times to fully understand it, but from what I could grasp, it was about this dude who controls the driver of a racing car with the power of his mind? The ghosts figure into the story somehow? Freaking crazy! Still, this is exactly what I enjoyed so much about the shorts presented on Neo Tokyo, they challenge your mind. And speaking of mind bending stories…


Then we get Rintaro’s collaboration to this anthology, a story entitled ‘Labyrinth, Labyrinthos’ a.k.a. ‘The Labyrinth Story’. And here’s where this anthology dives deeply into the surreal and dreamlike. So far, this is the most surreal anime short film I’ve seen. It is as if we were watching everything from the point of view of a child. We follow the child as he is playing inside his house….things are show from such strange angles that they seem different. It reminded of feelings I had when I was a child. You know how when you are a child, simple things can seem scary? This short harkens back to that, to when a childs imagination could transport him to a whole other world entirely. Mirrors are suddenly doors that can take us to another dimension filled with images that seem to make sense, yet they do at the same time when we look at the in a symbolic sort of way. You see all these crazy images which end up making sense when compared to your wildest craziest dreams. Feels like being a kid and seeing the world through eyes that get frightened easily. This short just blew me away as well. To me it felt like I was watching the film of a very distinctive filmmaker, one with a clear vision of what he wanted to convey; that weird, frightening, yet wonderful way in which a child looks at the world. This short was so amazing…obviously a master filmmaker at work here. One of the best things I can say about it is that it was an exercise in atmosphere, some scenes are spooky, they seem to come out of an old fashioned horror film. This short was one of the highlights of the anthology.


Finally, we move on to Katushiro Otomo’s ‘Construction Cancellation Order‘ which is all about this representative of an important development company who due to a change in government is now responsible for overseeing the cancellation of a construction project. The cancellation of this Project 444 presents its own set of challenges. First off, this development company was building a huge city in the middle of a dense jungle, so we have a futuristic city in ruins, being overtaken by nature. Second, the whole project was being constructed entirely by robots, with one robot overseeing everything. The problem is that the robots won’t stop working, since that’s all they were programmed to do and their one human supervisor has gone missing, they won’t follow any other order! So it becomes this gargantuan task to stop them. Again, same as in Robot Carnival (1987) the theme of man vs. machine pops up, but who will win? To me this short is amazing because of its design. You can see glimpses of the complex city designs that Otomo later uses in Akira (1988), also, it ends similar to Akira’s because it has its protagonist going up against a gigantic tentacled creature. While I enjoyed this short, I was disappointed with its ending, which feels unfinished. Just when you think you’re going to see this whole Man vs. Machine theme taken to its limits, poof, it’s fade to black and the short ends. What happened here? Did they purposely leave the audience hanging, or did something happen behind the scenes of the making of this short that didn’t allow them to follow through to the end? Whatever the case, the short is still amazing, and well worth watching. But if you ask me, the other two shorts are superior.  


After, Construction Cancellation Order, the anthology closes by going back to Rintaro’s Labyrinth Labyrintho’s and its back to surreal territory with the child still living out one of his horrible nightmares which involves circus clowns and black slimy monsters surrounding the child and his fat cat. But no worries, somehow, it all ends on a happy note and same as Robot Carnival, the short ends in a parade of fireworks, clowns and music, which brought to mind the final scenes in Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ (1963), which ends in a similar fashion. When the film ends, it feels like those last minutes in a circus, where all the characters from the circus reappear to say goodbye to us. The film dazzled and amazed us and it is now ending with some eye candy so you can leave happy. I know I did! Though this anthology film is short in running time (only 50 minutes long) its amazing every step of the way and well worth including in your anime/animation collection.

Rating:  5 out of 5 




8 comments:

SFF said...

Another gem.

I really enjoyed the second two shorts. Otomo and Kawajiri are amazing. Rintaro, too, is a beautiful animator.

Anyway, yes, getting tough to find but a great one to own.

SFF said...

And Franco enjoyed your own animated review of the shorts.

Animation is exquisite again thanks to the men involved.

I'd really love to see this on Blu-Ray one day, but...

Franco Macabro said...

Yeah, me too, I'd love to have this on blueray..the dvd is selling for about 40 dollars! But I'm sure at some point it will get released...

But the film itself, damn, I loved it. Every second of it..Rintaro's part is beyond amazing, the colors, but specially the mood, the atmosphere...the mixture between sight and sound...want to see it again. But what impressed me the most was how it captured the experience of being a child, and seeing things in that scary, frightening sort of way.

The Running Man...loved it because it's so dark, so sci-fi and so Blade Runnerish. I mean, Blade Runner was an obvious inspiration here. I'll be reviewing Ninja Scroll soon as well because it just so happens that I screened it a while back and re-experienced it and it blew me away again. Same goes for Akira which will be getting an write up....I guess I'm on an anime kick!

Thanks for suggesting these two though, Neo Tokyo and Robot Carnival were a real treat, and two films that I'd been missing out on.

SFF said...

Re-post to fix a spelling error.
-------
Great point about the Rintaro component.

And yes, I saw all of the Blade Runner-esque aspects to The Running Man as well.

As you know I'm on a complete anime writing mission at the moment myself.

Like you, I have Ninja Scroll upcoming. Let's see who posts up their review first. HA!

Just kidding, I'm so slow you will probably win, but I am writing one as well. Akira too.

The Film Connoisseur and The Sci-Fi Fanatic ride again! It's like thunder and lightning.

Take care pal.

Franco Macabro said...

I'd been on an anime kick as well! We are tuned on tot he same channel! :)

So yeah, I'll be reviewing a couple more anime films that have blown my mind plus some classics that I haven't reviewed on the blog, like the ones we've already mentioned.

I've been enjoying your reviews and articles on anime, great stuff, packed with awesome suggestions and info.

Hey we should do another collaboration! Hmm...thinking...

SFF said...

Hmmm. thinking too. :)

Sergei Kolobashkin said...

I love Kawajiri's stuff. He is awesome. I would like to recommend his OVA, that was very popular in the 90s. Oedo 808 is a great example of cyber punk genre. By the way, have you seen Evangelion?

Franco Macabro said...

I've seen a lot of anime, but never seen Oedo 808, but now that you mention it has cyberpunk elements, I am inclined to watch it since I love all things cyberpunk. Evangelion is a series I've never dived into. I actually have one of the films, but never watched it! I need to dive into it at some point. As of right now, I'm exploring Cowboy Bebop!

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